The present invention relates to towel warmers and more particularly to an improved hot air towel warmer.
The feel of a warm towel against the skin immediately after a shower or a bath is a delight that is only rarely enjoyed. If enjoyed in one's home, it is only because one has managed to complete a shower shortly after having run a load of towels through the washer and dryer.
In a bath or shower room area it is desirable to provide a rapid, convenient means for the uniform heating of articles, such as clothing or towels and the like as a preliminary to use. For example, in taking a bath or shower, a heating device or unit should be capable of heating or warming uniformly through several layers of towel over a period of a few minutes. In practice, this is difficult to achieve simply because cotton, the most common material used in towels, is such an excellent insulator. The thermal conductivity of cotton is one half that of asbestos, one tenth of window glass. As a result, the most efficient method of heating a towel is total immersion of each individual cotton fiber in a heated medium, hot air in the case of the present invention.
In the case of towel warming, problems arise when the towel is draped over a rod in that the mid section of the towel that is supported by the rod is compressed, rendering it difficult to flow warm air through it. In addition, due to the thickness and materials used in construction of towels, heat is not easily conducted through the towel.
Prior art warmers have hung a single section of a towel in front of a blower so that warm air is directed against one side of the towel. Such warmers generally rely on relatively slow heat conduction from one side of the towel to the other to thoroughly warm the towel. Other warmers have placed a heating element within a perforated support mounted in a housing. However, in such warmers, no provision has been made for forcing air to flow over the towel from within the towel support or around the support within the housing. As a result, the warming is relatively slow even though heat is transferred by convection, conduction and radiation.
Other warmers have suspended towels on hollow rods that are supplied with warm air. The rods have had holes therein to permit air to flow down between pendent sections of the towel that is draped over the rod. In some cases, such rods have been provided with nozzles to increase the flow downwardly between the pendent sections of the towel. Uniform heating of the towel still takes a relatively long time because there is no controlled airflow over both sides of the towel. Similarly, where holes are provided around the circumference of such rods, the towel is only subject to warm airflow from the inside which requires a longer period of warming.
Other towel-warming devices have been in the form of racks having rods for hanging a draped towel under a hood. A blower mounted in the hood above the towel blows air downwardly over the outside of the towel. With this relative positioning of the rods and the blower, the hanging towel prevents air from flowing against the inside surface of the towel such that increased time is required to warm the towel.
In other variations of units for warming a towel, a curtain is hung from a support to surround a towel that is hung freely from a bar of the support, a blower-heater below the towel directs warm air upwardly within the curtain across the freely hung towel. Because the towel hangs freely from the bar, no provision is made to keep pendanted sections of the towel apart nor to assure that air flows over both sides of or through the towel.
Despite prior efforts to warm towels, prior warming devices have operated relatively slowly, because air has been directed only along one side. Further, prior art warming devices have not effectively directed warm air simultaneously onto the inner and outer surfaces of draped towels in such manner as to force warm air through the mid section that is draped over a support. In addition, prior art warmers that have been provided with doors to permit access to the inside of a chamber have not been provided with racks supported by the door, such that when the door is open the rack has not been presented for easy loading and unloading of the towel.